THE CORNERSTONE OF INHERITANCE

   Big deal. A Will is a Will is a Will.

   Not so. All Wills are not the same. And if you think that they are the same, by the time you finish reading this page, you’ll see how different they can be. I’m not going to go into the history of wills. I’ll leave that for you to read on your own time. 

   Right now, I would like to reveal a mistake or two made by individuals who should have known better. This applies as much to the testator as it does to the attorney who drew up the will. The first story is about a modest estate. The second one is about a billionaire’s will.

   A woman in New York City died, leaving her personal belongings, including her jewelry, to her two daughters. Both sisters wanted the same pair of earrings and neither one would agree to let the other have it. No matter how many times their mother’s Executor reminded them that the estate couldn’t be settled until one of them conceded to the other, neither one would budge. Close to a year passed before the sisters – who had not spoken to each other in over six months - agreed with the Executor’s suggestion to take one earring. A senseless loss of family over a personal item.

   No matter how inconsequential something may seem to be by the person who is going to sign the will, it bears emphasizing that you be specific in your will. If you have children, you’ll know which one likes something in particular.  

   Just make sure that your children know about your intents well in advance. That way, nobody has a legal complaint later on.

   My mother’s original will left her estate in equal proportions to her four children. She even outlined in her will how we were to divide her furnishings, jewelry, and other personal effects. We were to draw a number from a hat and take turns choosing what we would like. In the end, if one or more of us seemed to have less in total equal value than another, the discrepancy would be rectified through money realized when her Sea Island Georgia ouse was sold.

   When financier J. Paul Getty died in 1976, he created headaches of enormous size for his heirs, starting with his son Gordon who was sole trustee. Getty left a $4 billion estate in trust with orders that it only invest in federal notes from seven countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Great Britain, and the U. S.) and that no more than twenty-five percent could be invested in any one country.